Malaysia court seeks final MH370 conversations

Family of passengers on missing Malaysia Airlines flight had asked court for all communications before airliner vanished

By P Prem Kumar

KUALA LUMPUR (AA) - The Malaysian high court granted Wednesday permission for an immediate family of three passengers on board missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 to obtain all audio recordings and communication transcripts involving the airline before it vanished from radars.

Justice Mohd Zaki Abdul Wahab ordered the airline to provide the family with all communication recordings between the airline, Malaysia Airports and MH370 aircraft March 8, 2014.

Family lawyer Sangeet Kaur Deo told reporters that the high court deemed communications both in audio and written format would be necessary for a fair trial.

"After deliberating in chambers today, judge allowed the application because it found that the materials are necessary," she said.

The lawyer also said the court had set July 14 for case management.

In September last year, the family of Tan Ah Meng and Chuang Hsiu Ling -- who were on Flight MH370 with their eldest child Tan Wei Chew -- filed a civil suit against the airline, the government and three other agencies, seeking a public apology and damages.

The family claims that negligence and mismanagement by the five defendants caused no to-date knowledge of the aircraft's whereabouts.

They also claimed for emotional, traumatic and financial damages.

Pursuant to the case, the family applied to the court for several documents, among them transcripts and communication messages, audio recordings -- including 'Air Ground Communication Recording', 'CMCS Recording', and 'Aircraft Communication Addressing and Reporting System logs (ACARS logs).

These were in the form of voice recordings or data sent and/or received from MH370 by the two defendants before departure of the plane March 8, 2014.

In their application filed Dec 23, 2015, the plaintiffs also requested all documents relating to aircraft inspection prior to the plane's departure, and all documents relating to standard operating procedure for tracking, from departure to destination.

The plaintiffs said the materials were relevant to their claims besides assisting the court in making an accurate assessment and a fair decision.

When contacted by Anadolu Agency on Wednesday, Malaysia Airlines counsel Saranjit Singh said his client would file an appeal against the high court's decision to allow the application.

The search and rescue mission -- which began immediately -- involved some 160 assets inclusive of 65 aircraft and 95 vessels as well as experts from 25 countries.

After 10 months of intensive undersea search for the vanished flight, on Jan. 29, 2015, Malaysia declared MH370 lost in an accident, killing all passengers.

On July 29 last year, a piece of aircraft debris was found washed ashore on the French island of Reunion, east of Madagascar. The debris, believed to be from a Boeing 777, was sent to Toulouse, France, for analysis the following day.

Days after, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak had announced that it was a flaperon from MH370, and the flight had ended in the Indian Ocean.

To-date, six pieces of aircraft debris believed to be from MH370 have been found.